Phil Bowyer led people in a structured time of contemplative prayer in an attempt to get in touch with, and deliberately reflect upon, the revelation of God.

“The all-important aim…is to allow God’s mysterious and silent presence within us to become more and more not only a reality, but the reality which gives meaning, shape and purpose to everything we do, to everything we are.”

John Main (1926-1982), founder of the Benedictine Priory of Montreal.

For the first five minutes of silence people were encouraged to:

Sit down

Sit still and upright, comfortable and alert, with their backs straight

Close their eyes lightly

Breathe calmly and regularly

Silently, interiorly, say a single word, e .g. sha-lom, reciting it as two syllables of equal length as they breathed in-and-out

Listen to the word as they said it, gently and continuously, but not to think or imagine anything – spiritual or otherwise

If thoughts or images came, at this point they were to regarded as distractions; if significant they would most probably come back in the second half of the prayer. Instead people were to let them float away, and – for now - return to simply saying the word sha-lom

During the second five minutes the Holy Spirit was invited to speak to people’s imagination through words, scripture, song, peotry and pictures, etc. In groups of eight people shared what they felt God had revealed to them:

About admin

Phil Bowyer is one of the founders of Integral Mission and Soul Action South Africa. He creates space for people who are exploring how to respond to various forms of poverty to connect with one another and God's mission. He is the author of several books on Integral Mission, incl. A Different World, Express Community and The Whole Wide World.